Bone tumours (clinicians)
About bone tumours
Malignant bone tumours are diagnosed in around 160 children and young people a year in the UK.
Bone tumours in children can present with a number of symptoms including bone pain which may come and go initially but then become more persistent. It may present with local tenderness, and sometimes erythema, swelling or pathological fracture.
Osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma are the most common bone tumour types.
Signs & symptoms
- Bone pain
- This may start as intermittent pain that progressively becomes more persistent
- Wakes from sleep
- Little relief from basic analgesia
- Local tenderness, swelling
- Erythema
- Pathological fracture
- Limp
Osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma arises most often at the end of bones where growth occurs. Normal control of this process is lost, and a swelling (tumour) occurs. Typically, it occurs at the ends of long bones surrounding the knee and around the humerus.
Osteosarcoma accounts for just over half of childhood bone tumours, with two-thirds of childhood cases occurring in the 10-to-14-year age group. There are approximately 75 new diagnoses of osteosarcoma in children and young people each year in the UK.
Five-year survival remains at about 65%.
Ewing sarcoma
The Ewing’s family of tumours occur mainly in bone, accounting for around third of all bone tumours in children. Typically, it occurs in the pelvis, legs, arms and ribs and most usually develops during periods of rapid growth. As such, it is most common in the 10-to-14-year age group. Although more commonly found in bone, Ewing sarcomas can occur in soft tissue too.
Ewing sarcoma accounts for just over a third of all bone tumours in the CYP age group, with around 55 new cases of Ewing sarcoma in the UK.
The overall five-year survival rate for Ewing sarcoma of bone is 68%.
For extra-osseous tumours, the survival rate is lower at 58%
Treatment
Treatment usually relies on a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Treatment varies according to the size, grading and position of the tumour.
Often radical surgery is required including either amputation or limb salvage techniques in the hope of achieving remission.
